I Amsterdam
Last month I went to Amsterdam and Brussels with 5 of the girls from UCF. I was really excited for this trip, but I really did not know what to expect.
We had to catch the 6am bus to get to the train station to catch our 6:45 train to Paris. After an hour and a half train ride to Paris we had to get off the train and get on the metro (during rush hour) to get the other train station to meet our train to Amsterdam. One of the girls going with us over slept- and missed both trains. She was lucky enough to be able to get on a train that arrived in Amsterdam 45 mins after ours, but I think we all learned a valuable lesson, don’t over sleep! And set a few alarms =)
We got to Amsterdam at 1pm. It is so easy to sleep on trains, so we made up for our lack of sleep on the trains. Once we all got together at the train station in Amsterdam we ventured into the city to find out hotel. The streets were packed with people, and BIKES.
The amount of Bikes in Amsterdam is CRAZY. EVERYONE rides a bike. We saw parents with 2 and 3 kids on their bikes with them. There would be a baby seat behind the handlebars or behind the seat. Some bikes had large boxes in the front where the children were placed. Also the rack on the back of the bike is used as a seat for a friend, or a place for a child to stand. I LOVE how everyone rides bikes in Amsterdam. I think it’s probably one of the best ideas ever. Not once did I see traffic in the city. I don’t think I saw an over weight Dutch person either. What a great idea, now being back in angers I am riding my bike more and more.
So back to Amsterdam. It’s BEAUTIFUL! I heard it is called the Venice of the north and now I see why. There are streets and cars, but there are canals all throughout the city. Everywhere we looked I felt like I was looking at something out of a book.
We found the big I AMSTERDAM sign, which also serves as a playground. Of course we took loads of pictures. We made our way to the Heineken brewery. I thought 15 Euro was a steep price, but we soon learned it was well worth it. We learned about how it is made and the history behind it. There was a little “ride” here they take you through the whole brewing and bottling process. We learned how to drink a Heineken and had a small sample. Then we went to the bar at the brewery where we got 2 drink included with our tour. We meet some other American students studying in Europe and hung out and talked for a while.
That’s another thing I really liked. EVERYONE spoke English. All the Dutch people spoke perfect English, which was good for me; I don’t know a WORD of Dutch. Also I have not meet that many Americans since I have been here in Europe. I felt like the only tourists in Amsterdam were Americans or English.
Nice.
We visited the red light district- that was interesting….I can’t believe it really existed, I feel like most people find it rather amusing, I did not find it very funny- rather disgusting and sad… I’m not going to sit here and preach, that would just take too long, but yeah- I just can’t believe that it is legal and that it really exists.
On our train home we learned a valuable lesson about watching your bags on trains. We all fell asleep and while we were sleeping one of the girls’ backpack was stolen =/ luckily she had her passport, money, iPod, camera ect in her purse on her, but still she lost her clothes and some other stuff. So now I know- don’t take your eyes off your bags on the trains.
On our way home we stopped in Brussels for about 6 hours in-between trains. It is such a beautiful city; everyone was so nice there. Of course we bought loads of chocolate and had some waffles =)
I am really behind on blogging- I know it took me nearly a month to put this one up… check back soon to hear about my 2 week trip to Italy and my cruse to Greece Croatia and turkey =)
